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What is a Treaty Depositary?

General Information

After a treaty has been concluded, the written instruments, which provide formal evidence of consent to be bound, and also reservations and declarations, are placed in the custody of a depositary. Unless the treaty provides otherwise, the deposit of the instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession establishes the consent of a state to be bound by the treaty. For treaties with a small number of parties, the depositary will usually be the government of the state on whose territory the treaty was signed. Sometimes various states are chosen as depositaries. Multilateral treaties usually designate an international organization or the Secretary-General of the United Nations as depositaries. The depositary must accept all notifications and documents related to the treaty, examine whether all formal requirements are met, deposit them, register the treaty and notify all relevant acts to the parties concerned.

EUCLID specific Information

Both EUCLID conventions designate the EUCLID Secretary-General as depositary. It shall be noticed that the initial convention used the spelling “depository” rather than “depositary” which is not an uncommon (albeit technically incorrect) variant. Most spell-checkers (such as the one used by Worpress to create this page) do not recognize the word “depositary” and will replace it with the more common form “depositary.”

The Updated Framework Agreement used “depositary.” The United Nations Treaty Section

Did you know?

Article 102 of the United Nations Charter (which is a treaty) harks back to a similar article found in the Charter of the League of Nations.

The intention of the article was to prevent "secret diplomacy" and to ensure that all treaties and intergovernmental agreements would be made public.

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In international law, it so happens that a "charter" or "accord" may not in fact be a treaty! How can you tell the difference? Visit our Treaty vs MOU page to become a treaty expert...

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The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations (1986) has been ratified by 30 States but it has not yet entered into force...

EUCLID publishes "Binding and Non-Binding Instruments in Intergovernmental Relations" guidebook for diplomats and international relations ...

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EUCLID Treaty Depository Services: This web site is maintained by the EUCLID Secretary General in his/her capacity as depositary under Article V of the convention and under Article 76 of the Vienna Convention of 1969.